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For the second episode of WKNC’s Brain Trust, Lucas invites two guests, Akhil Mitta and Rio Pham, to discuss their points of view on cultural identity. The trio dives into interesting facts about their own culture and talks about where cultural identity comes from.
A WKNC podcast that focuses on having introspective and thought-provoking discussions with guests from across NC State. Hosted by Lucas Marsh.
(Host) Lucas 00:12
Good time of day, everyone and welcome to the second episode of WKNC. His newest podcast WKNC is brain trust. My name is Lucas and I'll be your host with a little less than the most for this show. I'll be tackling introspective and thought provoking topics with my guests. And occasionally I'll get lucky with a good joke. Now before I introduce my guests for the episode, that's right, we've got two guests. For the second episode, I'd like to share a little bit about myself. My name is Lucas, I'm from Long Island, New York and a member of the freshman class of 2026. Here at state I'm excited to be hosting this podcast I and I am even more excited to introduce my guests. So first guest number one guest someone go ahead, introduce yourself.
(Guest) Akhil 00:59
My name is Akhil and I am a freshman in NC State as well. And I'm majoring in computer science right now.
(Guest) Rio 01:06
Hi, guys. My Name is Rio Pham aka Phuc Pham. I'm also a freshman at NC State.
(Host) Lucas 01:13
Amazing, amazing. I'm so happy to have you guys here for the very second very second episode of WKNC brain trust. I am really glad you guys are here to record with me. Are you guys excited?
(Guest) Rio 01:26
Very excited.
(Guest) Akhil 01:27
Yep. Very excited.
(Host) Lucas 01:28
Amazing. I'm glad you guys are excited. And first question. Akhil, we'll start with you. How's your day?
(Guest) Akhil 01:35
Oh, my day has been pretty good. I got a lot of work done today. And Thursday is usually my rest day. So it's been very relaxing.
(Host) Lucas 01:42
Amazing. Rio. How about you?
(Guest) Rio 01:44
I mean, Thursday is one of my most busiest day. But one of my class got cancel. So I'm kind of happy right now.
(Host) Lucas 01:52
Which class got canceled?
(Guest) Rio 01:53
chemistry for some reason.
(Host) Lucas 01:55
Oh, that's nice. Chemistry getting canceled is always pretty good.
(Guest Akhil 01:58
Oh, yeah. Yes.
(Host) Lucas 01:58
Gotta love it. All right, so you guys know the topic for today. Today's topic is cultural identity. The who the what the when the where, and how. Now, what we're going to be talking about overarching idea is in general. What does it mean? Where does it come from? And how do we identify ourselves with a certain culture? Okay, so But first, I would like to learn a bit more about you guys, and give you guys a chance to share more about who you guys are culturally at to all of our listeners. Sounds good?
(Guest) Rio 01:59
I agree
(Guest) Akhil 02:34
Yep.
(Guest) Rio 02:35
All right.
(Host) Lucas 02:36
Okay. So, for starters, where would you say you are from?
(Guest) Akhil 02:42
So I was born in Minneapolis. But I moved to India when I was three years old. And I've been living there from three to 18. So I feel like I'm I can call my I can say that. I'm from India. So I live in Bangalore. I lived in Bangalore for about 15 years. And now I'm over here for college. So it's been a back and forth type of thing. So yeah, I consider myself to be from India.
(Guest) Rio 03:10
Okay, well, I was born and raised in Vietnam. Um, I've been there for 11 years. And we're actually 14 years. Because I went to college. I went to high school in the USA, when I was a ninth grader. So I've been here for five years now. Um, so yeah, I would say I'm a Vietnamese guy, authentic Vietnamese.
(Host) Lucas 03:37
authentic Vietnamese. That's really nice. Amazing. So we've got two amazing people here, from really, really interesting places. And we're gonna be learning more about them and what cultures they identify with. So let's start with Akhil. How about what was it like growing up in your family?
(Guest) Akhil 03:57
Well, in my family, you know, coming from an Indian family, there's a lot of expectations to follow. There's really strict set of rules when it comes to, you know, how you act around the house, how you are with guests, how you study how you treat others, and there's a lot of expectations is what I would essentially say, and, you know, the rules to follow essentially, were like, you know, going to bed on time, making sure you wash the dishes every once in a while. You know, when you meet guests, be polite, offer them something that II offered them something to drink. That's the kind of thing I was taught to be doing. When I meet new people. Just be kind and make sure you always help others out. And essentially, you know, like, just make sure you study well, you always make sure you do things right in the I mean, just make sure that you study in a way that you will remember it for the future. That's pretty much all I'd have to say about that. So yeah, that's that's how I was like growing up.
(Host) Lucas 05:02
So just, you know, be productive when you're studying be polite to guests. Very similar to what I learned as a kid. Yeah, but
(Guest) Rio 05:11
yeah, well, Vietnamese culture, we also have I, personally, I grew up, you know, pretty strict family. Um, my parents are both businessmen. So they don't have that much time spending with me. But they all have like, rules applied on me, because they want me to, like grow up as a, you know, successful kid that look like them. But because they don't have that much time with me, when I was younger, I mostly spent with my spend time with my babysitter. And she was probably like, one of the most closest one to me. And then, but it's not that my parents don't love me, but it just, you know, the time don't allow them to do that.
(Host) Lucas 06:00
That's excellent. Thank you guys for sharing. Now, do you think that your upbringing, it all really like affected? How do you think it affected your outlook on parenting in general?
(Guest) Akhil 06:14
Well, in, in my opinion, for parenting, some things I would agree on that my parents did, right, making sure that I was always kind to all the things which I've mentioned before. But one thing I would maybe disagree on is the amount of expectations, I mean, it's already there. And it's understandable, because you know, it's your child, you want him to do well. And it's for the sake of your own child to do well, that you want to have high expectations. But it reaches a point where it becomes sort of stressful for the kid to try to reach those goals. Because it's been, it's been very common, at least in India, that you would have to, you know, get this much this much of a grade or get this high of high paying job or, you know, graduate from this very prestigious college. It's like, it's not, it's pretty competitive. And you always get compared to get your, you know, friends, family, cousins, however it may be. But I feel like when I would eventually, you know, have a kid, I want to make sure that none of that matters. Because the most important thing in my life right now is making sure that I follow what I want to do in my life. And I want to make sure he does that too. So not forcing him to go into engineering, which is like a very common thing for Indians is something I'd want to make sure, you know, I don't force on him or her, I want to make sure that, you know, he, he still has good habits, he's loves a good education, and he has time to explore for himself, make sure that they can, you know, be who they want to be.
(Host) Lucas 07:47
That sounds wonderful. Sounds like you're gonna have a very well raised, well raised kid, whoever the lucky lucky one may be?
(Guest) Akhil 07:54
Yeah, I hope so. Because I feel like, you know, we, I may say that I will do all these things, I don't know, it might change in the future, because we are forced to sometimes limit them and what they do, but you know, hope it's, it's all in good. It's all in good measure for them.
(Host) Lucas 08:10
Right, right. Wonderful. Thank you for sharing, and a real, how do you think your upbringing has affected your outlook on parenting?
(Guest) Rio 08:18
I mean, based on how my parents raised me, I would try when I become a parents, and when I have kids, I will try to spend more time with them. Because I didn't understand how much how, like, Tom affects the growth of your children, like the time between you and your children, like affect their culture or their like, you know, the growth, because when you talk to them, they that distance, or like, you will become closer to them. And they will share like everything with you easier. But if you will not, like do that, they'll become you know, separated. And they feel like, you know, their parents don't really care about them. So there'll be isolated easier, and they'll try to do everything by themselves, which is not great. So I try, you know, to spend more time and become like, a best friend informally, to like, you know, understand their life better in order to like, solve their problem, if they need help, or you know, be a person next to them whenever they need me. Or like, cheer him up whenever they you know, fallen down, you know, all those kind of thing.
(Host) Lucas 09:29
So just be supportive. Be there for your kid, you know, be involved. Yeah. Be present. Give yourself time to actually get to know your kid. Yeah, right. That's a that's very definitely very important, I would say. Now, while we're still on the topic of family, Akhil. Would you share with us some of your family's traditions if they have any?
(Guest) Akhil 09:51
Well, we don't exactly have many family traditions, but we it's sort of it's more of a religious matter. So, I think basically every year, you know, we go down to a sacred place called Tirupati. And it's the home of Shirdi Sai Baba. Actually, nevermind, surely is the home of Shirdi Sai Baba, the God that we worship. And we make it a task pretty much every year to go there once a year just to visit the God in that temple in particular, you know, we always want to make sure we get his blessings and get his prayer and send our prayers to him over there in particular. And just like that, there's also a few other places, like I just mentioned, Tirupati Tirumala. And there's a lot of other places where we go, we spend like four or five hours hiking up the mountains just to reach a temple that's, you know, filled with that's literally in the sky, with clouds, like floating through it, just so that we can, you know, worship the gods in a place that's sacred.
(Host) Lucas 10:59
That sounds like a very nice walk. I'm not gonna lie with the clouds surrounding it and everything that sounds like a lot of fun.
(Guest) Akhil 11:05
Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, the hike up there back then was manageable for us. But considering that our parents are pretty old now, it's, it's like a really long process to even get up there in the first place. Because it's like 1000 steps up there. That it's a lot of steps. Well, yeah, like 1000, steep steps and move. Yeah. Another thing I would say about family tradition is essentially just making sure we're with each other during festivals. This will be with the volley, duchscherer, and pretty much any other major festival that we celebrate, we always want to be as close to our family as possible. And even if our family, some of them isn't, some of them live in the US. Some of them live in India, we always video call and make sure you know we're with each other during that time, because it's a time of celebration.
(Host) Lucas 11:53
Thank you very much for sharing Akhil and Rio, I'm going to pose the same question to you. Can you tell us about some of your family's traditions if you have any?
(Guest) Rio 12:02
Well, in Vietnam, every house, there is a small altar. And we use that to honor the beloved one who already passed away in the past, or certainly our ancestors. Every year, every family members we gather at one house, and we will have like a dinner together to another person's. So such as my grandfather, who was 100 years old. He passed away two years ago in December. So this December coming up, everyone in my house, on my dad's side, we will gather at my house, and we will have we will have a dinner together and worship him. Yeah, that's pretty much in every house hold on Vietnam. Besides that, um, that family is a big thing in Vietnam is like a traditional one. Or it's like a festival one. And we every house has a tradition of going to pagoda, to worship and to pray the god to gain the you know, the blessing from them. And my family. We were we go, we normally go to a pagoda on the mountain as well. But it's not the mountain. It's not as high as accused pagodas where he normally goes to. But it is also on the mountain and where you go there every year in about in around January or the beginning of February, because that's when that festival is that's when Lunar New Year is. And yeah, it's been great. We've been keeping up with it every year. We haven't missed a year yet.
(Host) Lucas 13:47
That's amazing. God, I love consistency with tradition. I mean, if without consistently can you really even call it a tradition? Yeah. All right. So now, let's move away from your families. And let's talk about you guys. Let's start with Rio this time. All right, our spiritual or religious beliefs are important to you. Not just your family to you, personally.
(Guest) Rio 14:11
Um, to me, I will say I'm a person who believes in science more than, like spiritual thing. Like I would believe it if I see it happening, like in front of my face in front of my eyes. But that is something that science cannot explain, but it does happen. So I'm like, we normally go to pagoda, even though we don't even know or none of the signs have proved that God exists. You know, or like, my god in the Buddhist exist. So, but we still worship them. So I think it's it depends on people, but personally, I would say I'm 90% signs, but 10% spiritual. I do believe in some some part. Like New yoga New Year I, one, I need the blessing. So I would still go to the pagoda, and pray. And even though I may not get something, but it just, it comes from the bottom of my heart to you know, pray for my family and everyone's the best that could happen to them.
(Host) Lucas 15:17
Right? That's a very, very sweet of you to still be considerate of others. Even if not, even if you're not religious or anything like that, even if they are religious, you still consider it just out of the kindness of your own heart. Amazing. Yep. Now, Akhil, how about you? To you not just to like your whole family? Like, if you were to say sit down and say, am I a religious person? What would you say? Are those beliefs important to you?
(Guest) Akhil 15:42
Well, it sort of aligns the same way with Rio, I do believe in science, a little bit more than I do believe in God. And it doesn't mean that I'm an atheist, I do still believe that. There are some things you know, which can be explained by science, of course. And, you know, just, I feel like the same thing with celebrations is in line, I do it not out of courtesy, just because I know that, although it may not exist, it's just nice to know that you can depend on something and make sure that you know, you can just give your prayers, knowing that maybe somewhere over there, it will be heard. Now, of course, not all not not everything that we wish for will be granted. But, you know, it's nice to know that we can rely on something that maybe does not exist maybe does exist, it's just something to always look up on. Just knowing that, you know, it's there. And I feel like you know, with my family, especially there is a lot of, there's a lot of belief in God. There is a especially like one of my cousin's, she prayed for almost 60 days prior to a very major exam of hers that decided what college she got into in India. And since she prayed, and she got into her college of her choice with a pretty good scholarship. You know, they believe that, you know, it's very essential to pray. And like, when you keep wishing and when you keep repeating. And of course, with hard work as well, you will be able to get what you want. So yeah, it does believe does run vary a lot in my family. And I feel like, you know, the same can be applied to me just that sometimes, you know, it's not always going to be that way.
(Host) Lucas 17:23
So thank you for sharing. I was really interesting to hear from both of your perspectives. And now, a little bit of my perspective, I wasn't I wasn't raised terribly religious, just because my parents weren't too serious about it. I mean, my mom is a Christian, I don't even think my dad knows what religion he is, might be Baptist and might be Lutheran, I don't even know, he probably doesn't even know. I don't know what religion. I mean, he just just doesn't know. But um, they never raised me to be religious, they raised me to follow my own values that I just kind of like, you know, I guess you just come up with it. You know,
(Guest) Akhil 18:00
yeah, you just get on with it over time. And you sort of maybe you start to lose faith in the idea of God over time as you mature, because, you know, you keep learning about science, and you keep learning about new facts and new figures and new things that slowly disprove the fact that God exists. But yeah.
(Host) Lucas 18:18
Right. So with that, obviously, we're not here today to discuss whether or not God is real. We are here today, again, to talk about cultural identity. Just wanted to get a little background on where you guys are from for our listeners to learn a little bit more about different cultures. Now, if you were to think about what culture means, what kind of things make up your cultural identity as a person, to identify yourself with a culture? What sorts of things would that entail?
(Guest) Akhil 18:58
Well, I think some of the very essential human things that we do, can entail you know, how we how we are defined as a culture from you know, things like how we talk how we move, to the food we eat, to the languages we speak to the music we listen to, to the dance we have to the people we worship. And you know, there's there's a lot of things that can define what a culture is really. And over time, you know, as you it's the little things that just show the differences in people in different cultures. Like I know that people will look at me weird if I eat with my hands, but it's a normal thing here in India. And what in US people use forks, they use wounds, whatever it may be, but, but those type of small differences can really differentiate between two cultures.
(Guest) Rio 19:49
For me, a culture involves a lot of things like accused that many minority things can participate in the building of the you know, the code cheering us, in my opinion, the culture. The most important thing that contribute to the culture is the cuisines. Or the food. I think because whenever I think of another country, I'll always think about the food or their food for like, an hour. I'm here in America, and I heard about Mexico. I will talk I will think about Mexican food, or about India, I think about Indian food or China, like Chinese food. As a result, yeah, that was really typical thing that represent the whole country, basically. Um, yeah. Besides that, I can I also think about the language. I'm not that much, but it does represent, you know, like a language. It's like a whole community, speak that language. So
(Guest) Akhil 20:49
like, the first things we think about is the food, the languages and how people act and how they dance. I guess maybe, yeah, we think about the traditional dances we think about what they eat, and just how they are as people. Yeah.
(Host) Lucas 21:02
Yeah. So what language and what kinds of let's let's learn a little bit about cultures here today. Akhil, would you mind explaining what are some what are some popular foods in your culture? What? What language do you guys speak? And maybe maybe you could tell us about a dance?
(Guest) Akhil 21:25
Well, there are actually a lot of languages in India, there should be over 10,000 dialects. But yeah, of course. And yeah. But of course, it's been consolidated into 21 actual languages, which is still a lot. But yeah, we have, we have a decent amount of states. So and everyone comes from different areas. So we all speak different languages, we have 21 official languages. Hindi is supposed to be considered the national language, but it's not. I know, many people think that it is but it's not. English is actually still the national language of India. And you know, many people speak many different languages depending upon the state. In terms of food, really, it's just divided between North and South Indian, North Indian is a little less spicy. When you think of North Indian you can think of curry and roti and things like that when you think of South Indian you can think of things like biryani you know, spicy fish, seafood, stuff like that, because South Indian food is generally meant to be more spicy than North Indian food. So, yeah, you know, Palak Paneer is one I'm sure you guys may have heard of, is a North Indian dish. Something like biryani is a South Indian dish. And I know I'm pretty sure people like both of them. So yeah.
(Guest) Rio 22:42
But you said curry is not spicy.
(Guest) Akhil 22:45
Some curries are not spicy. Some curries are like for example, the curry that comes with biryani can be really spicy. But you can have like butter chicken, which is not exactly spicy. And it's just meant to be more of a milk thing.
(Host) Lucas 23:02
Yeah, that doesn't sound very spicy buttered chicken. But I don't even think I've actually I don't think I've had that.
(Guest) Akhil 23:07
Oh, yeah, you should try some time buttered chicken. Yeah, like I've been saying you should try all the Indian food that we get. It's you. You either love it or you hate it, but it's just new things you get to try. I mean, I even want to be trying to try some good Vietnamese food some traditional good Vietnamese food.
(Guest) Rio 23:22
Oh yeah. Go to carry or Greensboro you'll find a lot. Oh, yeah. Good Vietnamese restaurants. I'll take you there if I have car and.
(Host) Lucas 23:30
And speaking of good Vietnamese food Rio? What about in? In Vietnam? What are some really good Vietnamese cuisine options? What languages are spoken?
(Guest) Rio 23:41
Okay, first of all about language. Vietnamese is the main language. Well, I don't know if that is like you know, clear or not, but Vietnamese is like you know a thing. But this because we have about more than 50 dialect. And the main one we don't really have a name of that. So I just going to call it Vietnamese. That's what I'm speaking. And my family's
(Host) Lucas 24:09
What about some popular Vietnamese dishes? We've learned all about Indian dishes. I know all of our listeners know all about greasy hamburgers and french fries. Gotta love onion rings, pizza, all this other American dishes. We'd call them hotdogs. Who knows it's in hotdogs. That's not what we're here to talk about. I think that'd be very scary conversation. At least for another day. What's what's in a hotdog? So we will obviously our audiences know a lot about American dishes. What about some Vietnamese dishes?
(Guest) Rio 24:43
Okay, talking about Vietnamese dishes you cannot not talk about Pho the best noodle soup ever. Basically, is rice noodle with broth made off bones like, you know beef broth off, and they bought meatball and beef. It depends on which kind of meat you want to put in there. You can use beef. You can use chicken, or you if you want. If you're vegan, you don't even need them. You can just put herbs and veggies in there and add some sauce into it like Sriracha. The, like black sausage. I cannot remember the name right now,
(Guest) Akhil 25:25
is that soy sauce?
(Guest) Rio 25:27
Is not soy sauce.
(Host) Lucas 25:28
Is it like a like an eel sauce?
(Guest) Rio 25:30
Um, is dark color. That's all I remember right now, but it's not. It's really like milky, I'd say. Like, not milky, but it's like, really thick.
(Host) Lucas 25:43
That I think that'd be more like an eel sauce. Yeah, that's probably that could be it. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, ell, sauce. We'll go with that. Yeah.
(Guest) Rio 25:51
Well, to be honest, if you want to, you can add anything with that. As long as you're happy with a brand new one. Because the boss made up the best meal for you.
(Guest) Akhil 26:01
Oh, yeah. Yeah, I remember trying for like four or five times in Vietnamese restaurants back in Bangalore. That was so good. Like, I definitely emptied my plate. I drank all of the soup. It's just it's so good.
(Guest) Rio 26:12
Hey, thank you. Thank you. We take that.
(Host) Lucas 26:15
I remember the first time I had for there was a Vietnamese restaurant that opened up for some reason it opened up near my house. Which is on is interesting because the
(Guest) Rio 26:22
Oh, wow.
(Guest) Akhil 26:24
right next to your house?
(Host) Lucas 26:25
not right. Not right next to no, not at not in the middle of suburbia. zoning laws wouldn't even allow opening a restaurant right next to your house, that'd be weird. Like you just take a house and turn it into a restaurant. Yeah, maybe. No, but I'm near my house near my house. It was a new Pho restaurant that opened up so obviously we all everybody had to go try it because nobody had heard of far from where my area. And it was something other than a pizzeria or another Italian restaurant. So I had to go in. Obviously try it. It was amazing. Some really, really nice.
(Guest) Rio 27:01
Thank you. Thank you.
(Host) Lucas 27:02
It was like it was just it was amazing. So thank you for telling us about dishes. Languages. Amazing. Something was it was sort of mentioned when you said like dancing and could be related. Something else that could really define culture, I think would be music.
(Guest) Akhil 27:19
Oh, yeah. 100%.
(Host) Lucas 27:21
Do you guys have anything to say about that?
(Guest) Akhil 27:25
I'm sure many people would say Tabla. sitar. And dances like Bharatnatyam is pretty widely known as dances and instruments of India. And that is also played pretty often, especially in weddings. You just cannot have a wedding without a set of toddlers and a sitar and Bernardin, maybe not so much. That's more dances that happens during festivals. But like, yeah, you can you can go on weddings without having some kind of traditional Indian music that is playing in the background, the entire time. And now for you.
(Guest) Rio 28:01
Um, I'm not really a musical guys. So I don't have that much to say about my own, like, you know, cultures music. But
(Guest) Akhil 28:12
Dance wise?
(Guest) Rio 28:13
Dance wise. I don't I don't think we have a special dance. Like how India, Indian people as I don't it, I think it's just me that don't know that. I'm sure that out there in my country. There are like a lot of specials on dance, and movements that I haven't had a chance to learn or seen yet. And I would love to someday. And, you know, one of those can be the best and that maybe will be lost? If nobody knows. You know? And I would definitely love to, you know, keep it along the generations. Yeah. So that's those purities and those best of the best in the culture, the dancing and the, you know, the art culture to be saved throughout the generations.
(Guest) Akhil 29:08
Yeah, it's very important to not let culture die.
(Guest) Rio 29:10
Yeah, yeah.
(Host) Lucas 29:12
I'm actually glad you brought that up. Because obviously, it is very important to let culture live on and thrive and learn about culture and experience culture have culture. And the question I have for you guys, is, how would you say people identify themselves, culturally, so there might be I know that might be a lot of repeat, because we've been talking about your cultures this whole time, but to really hammer in the point of the episode to really bring in the thought provoking aspect of this podcast because after all, we are WKNC is brain trust, the best and the brightest. Talking about cultural identity today. The whole point is to think about How these cultures are kind of how these are imprinted on people, and how these people get their identities culturally, specifically.
(Guest) Akhil 30:12
So yeah, I mean, primarily it has to do with behaviors and mannerisms. It's just about how people act in their own way. I guess. Back in India, you know, you'd have to treat others with respect, you'd always have to bow down to their feet. You know, you're there's a bunch of things that we do that really just show who we are as a culture. And the way I guess you could define yourself, as you know, being part of the being being who you are. And being in your culture is just about how things go about in your day to day activities really is just about, you know, once again, eating with hands, or instead eating, eating with forks or spoons. And like, there's a bunch of other things I could say, you know, whenever we have guests over, while the guests will always bring us sweets, because they feel like you know, you can you can enter someone's house without a gift without a present or something like that. Whenever you enter the room, you whenever you entered the house, actually, you always have to take off your shoes or your chapel or whatever it is you're wearing or your sandals is what you call them here. And what else do we have here? Oh, yeah, one very controversial topic I always remember talking about is whether we wash with a bidet, or we wipe with toilet paper when we're pooping. And I feel like so many people say, Why do you use a bidet to wash? Why can't you just use toilet paper? Like, those kinds of things? Really just define who you are as a person culturally? Like I personally would prefer to use a bidet. But I'm stuck here using toilet paper because I have to
(Guest) Rio 32:03
same situation right here.
(Guest) Akhil 32:05
Oh, yeah.
(Host) Lucas 32:08
You use a bidet as well?
(Guest) Rio 32:09
Yes, we do. Totally. Because toilet paper can cause problem. Totally for the toilet,
(Guest) Akhil 32:16
Toilet paper doesn't get everything out. Bidets can you don't know? Have you tried it?
(Host) Lucas 32:23
No, I have never used a day before. no
(Guest) Akhil 32:27
that you'll see the difference don't worry you'll just try a bidet once. Yes.
(Host) Lucas 32:33
So it's definitely a very interesting point to bring up about bidets. I did know about that. Actually, I did know what that already. But unfortunately, I've never I've never never been given the chance to use a bidet before. But again, that's just another another little difference in between between cultures. So Rio. I'd love to get your perspective on how do you think people identify themselves? Culturally, I know you brought up something about how it's important for culture not to really like die, it's important for generations to continue passing down the knowledge of their history of their traditions. So that culture doesn't die. So that culture can be passed on. Now, how do you think that really helps people identify themselves culturally?
(Guest) Rio 33:19
Well, in my opinion, people identify themselves based on, you know, like, Akhil said, their mannerism, and the traditions that their family and themselves are following right now. So let's say there's an example on my one of my cousin's, she was born and raised here in America, but her parents are Vietnamese. So what do you say? She's gonna identify as Vietnamese or American? Well, I asked her that question before, and she said, She would be Viet because everyone surrounding her are Viet people. And she themselves enjoy being Viet too. So I think it's really a personal preference, that the culture, they identify themselves as you know, there can be a variety of factors that contribute to that, but mainly is their choice to pick.
(Host) Lucas 34:21
That's definitely true family defenitely, very big impact on how you identify yourself. Now, would you guys say that? I mean, aside from some religious things, would you guys say there's anything between like you and your parents? You think there's anything different about how you would identify yourself culturally compared to them?
(Guest) Akhil 34:46
The only thing I'd say I would differentiate between me and my parents, if I if I were identified culturally, is just the how much I believe in God really, because they believe in God much more than I do. And as we stated earlier, I'm not really I don't really believe in God that much not. I'm not trying to offend anyone here, but like, that's just what I feel in this, this is what I think. And I think that's the only difference between me and my parents and how we identify culturally, otherwise, we're happy to identify ourselves as Indian, we're proud to be Indians basically.
(Host) Lucas 35:17
Definitely. Agree. Good for you, of course, definitely, you should be proud to be who you are. And Rio. Same from you. But would you say that there are any any, like cultural differences between you and your parents?
(Guest) Rio 35:34
Oh, definitely, because of the generation gap, and the age gap as well. Back in the day, when my parents was born, it was still during War Time. But now we are in peacetime. So obviously, our beliefs will be slightly different, if not totally, let's say my family, my parents, like Akhil of, um, my parents are also really, really ringing God, or Buddhist, um, on the other hand, are not really into that type. You know, religious type of person. However, my parents, they know the difference between us. So they also tried to, you know, get to know what my generation look like. And they try to understand how we act, and you know, the, the how the teenagers live going on, so that they could, you know, understand their children better. So I will say, there's not, there is a difference. But I will admit that this effort from them to try and you know, just shrink that difference, and make our relationships shorter and become best better.
(Host) Lucas 36:55
That's nice. So obviously, family has a big impact, especially generational differences, like literally born in a different time. And obviously, even though cultures come from, you know, shared heritage, shared foods, a big one, music, traditions, things like that, definitely, I would throw it in there, that location definitely has a big impact. Although the three of us may all be going to NC State, we have very different outlooks on life, different perspectives on certain things like I have never used a day before. I like using a spoon and a fork. And things like that. There's just other differences that you were saying before it kill there's the minor minor differences that really kind of do shine, they don't really become as minor anymore.
(Guest) Akhil 37:46
Yeah. Is regardless of the differences. Yeah, in regards to location, really. The US has so much space, there's just there's so much going on. Like, like back in India, every corner, you turn, there is a house, there is a restaurant, there is something there are people putting us. I see so much of free space. And I just keep thinking, what if Indians had all of this land? What will we do?
(Host) Lucas 38:10
Right? Like there's there's so many different, like regions, there's a lot of different lists as multiple regions of the US that actually allow it to be culturally different. Like, I am from Long Island, New York, which is, even though so close to the actual city, culturally, it's not exactly the same. Like, I live in the suburbs. I live in the suburbs, not in the city. So just the My way of life, it's slightly similar, but it's just it's not the same. You know, I mean, so definitely, geographic location definitely helps as well, like, like, we were saying, You guys both have to go up mountains, to go to Europe, go to temple, go to wherever you gotta go to pray. I can go down the street. I can go down the street to a church and go there. Like, I don't have to go up a mountain, but definitely geographic location would have a lot to do with it. So to end our conversation, because we get into about that time. Do you guys have any other interesting things you would like to say about your cultures? Anything else interesting. You'd like to toss in just as some little fun facts for our listeners?
(Guest) Akhil 39:32
Oh, yeah, there's a lot of things I can throw in there.
(Host) Lucas 39:36
How about top three,
(Guest) Akhil 39:38
top three, top three. There's, there's a there's a type of food method to follow. Like there's vegetarian and there's non vegetarian, that's vegan, but there's this special type of thing called Jain culture. And Jain culture essentially means you're not aren't allowed to eat anything that's come from the ground below. So that literally means you can't eat potatoes, onions or anything like that. Let's see, what else do we have as restrictions? I'm not Jane, but I know a few of my friends who are, but they don't eat meat. They don't eat fish, eggs, vegetables, animal ingredients. Basically anything. Only food that's above the ground is considered something they can eat. So if it's like an apple tree, they're not even supposed to pluck the apples, they have to let the apples fall down naturally, then only are they allowed to eat it. That's one of the interesting facts I think most people don't know about. The second thing I want to talk about is the stereotypes. Not everyone who calls you from India is a call center. scammer that's I know that might be a little bit.
(Host) Lucas 40:52
Oh my god. Well, I'm so shocked. That's so terrible.
(Guest) Akhil 40:56
Like that's pretty much what everyone thinks. But in reality, that's a super small percentage of India. And you know, don't view India in that matter matter. Like we itself hate all those people who are doing all of that, because it just sheds a bad light on us. That's one stereotype
(Host) Lucas 41:12
I think so you you don't like them the same way that we don't. Same the same way that we make YouTube videos like oh, wow, scammer gets pranked kind of thing like,
(Guest) Akhil 41:21
yeah, no, no, no, I feel like a lot of like, we also hate them. And funniest thing is we don't even get calls from them. Just Indians just don't get called from them. Only Americans are only British people, like only people from those regions will get called. Well, yeah. And finally, I think the last thing there is, that is an interesting fact. Yeah, I mean, this is very general geographic facts is that there's like over 1.4 billion people in India, there's 28 states, I think 29 Now is like over 200,000 dialects that's possible to speak. There are people everywhere you go. The food is very different and very varying from place to place. And overall, I just feel like you know, India is a great place. And we can we have a lot of things that define who we are in many different ways.
(Host) Lucas 42:17
Amazing. Thank you for sharing, and Rio. Let's hear some fun facts from you.
(Guest) Rio 42:23
Fun fact for me? Well, as you know, Vietnam is a tropical country. So we have quite some interesting fruits that people here may or may not heard of it. One of them is durian. So. Yeah. After durian Yeah. Durian is, in my opinion, one of the best food of fruit in the world because of how
(Guest) Akhil 42:50
I feel like I've tried it only once. I honestly forgot how it tasted really.
(Guest) Rio 42:53
It is weird, but because of its smell. Everyone here hates it, I don't know why.
(Host) Lucas 43:00
what does it smell like?
(Guest) Rio 43:01
Apparently smells really bad for some people. Yeah.
(Host) Lucas 43:04
Like, I mean, I've heard of durian and obviously I've never been I've never had I've never smelled
(Guest) Rio 43:08
I think it's it will be really expensive for you to buy it here. Because, you know, we have to
(Host) Lucas 43:12
like casually just the inputs alone.
(Guest) Rio 43:15
Yeah, but if there's a chance you should just try it out. Just see because you either hate it or you love it. I am the latter one. I love it so much. You know? Yeah.
(Host) Lucas 43:26
Any other fun fact? You can think of?
(Guest) Rio 43:30
Well, about another one. We use fish sauce in my food in the food a lot. Like in the cooking process. And apparently, not a lot of people live it here like it here because of the smell as well. I don't know why but some things would smell. Yeah. Something was smell is is
(Host) Lucas 43:48
like if something smells off. Even a little bit even a little bit. Eat it. Somebody's like, I won't eat that. Yeah, why not? Give it a try? Like something goes bad. Oh, that smells terrible. Yeah, I don't want to eat it. Well, I'd be open minded. Try something new.
(Guest) Rio 44:04
Exactly. Yeah. If you've tried it, and you don't like it, okay, I'm happy with that personal preference. But if you haven't even tried it, and you hate it, um, like, I don't know.
(Guest) Akhil 44:15
I'll try it once
(Host) Lucas 44:16
or twice. Try it. Yeah, that's, that's ridiculous. If you haven't even tried it, and you already hate it, like, give think give things a new try. It's always it's always important to try new things, especially things from cultures that are different from your own, you know, exactly like durian or maybe using a bidet, stuff like that. Yeah, definitely give those things a shot. But I'd like to thank you guys very, very much for being my guests for the second episode of WKNC brain trust. I had a wonderful time recording with you guys. I hope you guys enjoyed it as well.
(Guest) Akhil 44:49
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
(Guest) Rio 44:50
Oh, yeah. First time being recorded and so that
(Guest) Akhil 44:54
Yes, same I'm it's my first time being on a podcast as well. I feel like I love it. Yeah.
(Host) Lucas 45:00
It is a lot of fun. Definitely. That's why That's why I do this. You know, that's why I'm always so excited to get these episodes done. But with that, thank you all for listening. If you'd like to check out more, you can check us out at wknc.org forward slash podcasts. That's wknc.org forward slash podcasts with an s, plural podcasts. And of course, the absolutely amazing intro and outro music has been provided by JT Sutek from moving boxes. Wonderful local band, he's done some amazing work for us here at WKNC Especially for WKNC braintrust. With providing us with such original intro and outro music, definitely check them out. They've done some amazing work there at moving boxes band on Instagram that's moving boxes band all one word. So they've done some really amazing work. They've got some brand new merch out. So definitely check them out as a thanks for helping us out here and being so nice to us here at WKNC
(Guest) Rio 46:02
well shout out to my man Lucas for inviting us over here.
(Guest) Akhil 46:08
Yeah, thank you so much for inviting us here. I mean, it was it was honestly all fun. It was very fun.
(Host) Lucas 46:13
If you stumbled upon the podcast and you'd like what you heard, you can always subscribe to WKNC brain trust on wknc.org forward slash podcasts to check out new content and stay tuned as the brain trust churns out more amazing content. And with that good day
Transcribed by https://otter.ai